Here to Meet You
by Beckon
Summary: He had planned out what he was going to say for a few days now and yet… sitting here in front of the grave, nothing was coming to him. It was more difficult than he thought to introduce his daughter to her grandfather.


The cool breeze was refreshing compared to the rather still air inside of the palace- which had been bustling with counsel men lately; it moved him to appreciate the soft comfort of being outside in the silence once felt bad that Elincia had to stay back, but she insisted he save himself while he still could.

There wasn't complete silence though.

The art of the breeze blowing through the dark-green hair of the child in his arms only seemed to fuel the quiet bits of laughter that left her. She reached out as best she could in an attempt to catch the invisible force, only to giggle once more at the light wind moving through her fingers now.

He had told Elincia he was going to take her out for a bit and, in a sense, he was right. He just never told her where or how long they were going to be gone, that was all.

The girl in his arms didn't seem to mind though and seemed entranced by everything going on around them; her golden eyes moving with every tree branch that waved and bended to the breeze. Any movement could have her go from giggling to silence and then back to giggling in just a matter of seconds.

He was careful as he walked through a small forest path that served as a shortcut, careful to keep the girl shielded from the hanging branches that could've brushed her. It felt like it had been years since he walked this same path... but nothing was different with it; it was all the same. Every step only brought forth a sense of familiarity with it, sometimes making the next one a bit difficult to push for. But it didn't take long before he stepped off the path and into the small clearing he had set out for since that morning.

He found himself pausing briefly at the sight before he slowly forced himself forward once again. It felt like his chest was constricting in on itself, like his heart was in his throat... but he approached the small gravesite regardless. Even through the years, it had been kept clean of weeds and had received a minor facelift... he couldn't remember when, but it looked better. Better than it did six years ago.

Slowly sitting down in front of it, he set the girl down in his lap and watched as she seemed completely captivated by the makeshift gravestone. It was a clean cut of marble, small in size but... he knew better than to get anything extravagant- hell, even the marble was pushing it.

He had planned out what he was going to say for a few days now and yet… sitting here in front of the grave, nothing was coming to him.

"… It's been awhile, Greil." He started, figuring any place would be a good place to start at least. "It's just... I've been kind of busy with a few things these past couple of months and… it's just been hectic. To be honest, I'm surprised I've found time to sleep most days. I won't go into details, I know you never took excuses anyways. But uh… I've been meaning to introduce you to someone for a long time now. You know about Elincia and I- I mean, I'm sure our marriage wasn't really a surprise to you; I think you already knew something like this was going to happen regardless of what you or Titania tried to say. And well I guess I won't keep delaying it any longer... her name is Emina."

His daughter had been still for some time, but now he felt her try to move out of his hands at the announcement of her name. He loosened his grip to let her slowly reach out to touch at the grave stone; her tiny hand looked even smaller compared to the stone.

"You used to say that you didn't want grandchildren because then you had to admit that you were getting old and we were finally growing up. I think you were saying that more towards Mist than myself, but… I used to laugh about it all the time. You were old to begin with- you were just too stubborn to admit that." a soft chuckle found its way to his lips now. "… Emina's got more of the Crimean genes in her. She's got Elincia's eyes and I think it's Sir Renning's hair, we're really not sure yet. She reminds me a bit of mom though… She's usually quiet most of the time, but Goddess help you if you bring her to the Retreat. Everyone's fallen in love with her- even Shinon, although he refuses to admit it."

Again, silence.

His daughter continued to be fixated by the gravesite.

He could feel his hands starting to shake.

"… Everyone's doing fine. We're all okay. After the war, we all kind of settled out and found our different ways. We're still together, just… most days we seem to have separate agendas. Titania takes care of the retreat when I'm not there and she's always making sure that Mist is doing well. You know, Oscar rejoined the Royal Knights not long after the war ended. He had been hesitant with going back but, surprisingly enough, I think it was Boyd who convinced him to do so; I think he told him that it was about time he started putting himself first for once. And you know how Boyd is, nothing has really changed there… he and Nephenee got engaged a few weeks ago; he's been out and about meeting with her family for most of the month. Rolf's been giving lessons- he's gotten surprisingly skilled with the bow in the passing years, I don't really know where the skill came from though."

Pause.

"Mist is keeping up with her studies; she's actually helping Rhys out at the school. He's still giving her lessons on how to use a healing staff- he says she's not that far from mastering it. She got a lot of practice with the wars and everything… although she picked up a sword during the Goddess War, she said she got tired of just standing on the side line. I know you would never let her on the battle field and I fought that decision too, but... she was determined and stubborn. In the end, she turned out to be a pretty good fighter. But at least I got you beat there, old man, she chose a sword over your axe."

Emina had pulled herself out of his lap now and had moved to fully investigate the grave stone; tiny fingers investigating the smooth down rock. Urvan had been placed there during the Mad King's War, but… after King Caineghis had brought it to him just before the final battle with the Goddess, he couldn't bring himself to leave it here again.

"You know, I think I'll be the first to admit that… I don't really know what I'm doing. Hell, I never know what I'm doing- you were always adamant about that." He continued. "I didn't know how to lead the Mercenaries, how to fight or win a war… it was all by pure luck I guess; the second time around was a hellva lot easier though. Hell, I didn't even know how to fall in love, it just kind of happened and by that point, it was too late to figure out that we weren't exactly supposed to be together. The only exception with that was that it was harder the second time around. But we made it work some how and… got this far. But this… actually raising a child… we've only got one chance at that."

His daughter seemed intrigued by the carefully carved in letters and faintly traced them as best she could.

"We didn't really have a lot of people to look to for advice either… we still really don't." he remarked, fingers moving through his bangs now. "We were lucky enough to have Oscar and Sir Renning close by for any questions, but… I don't know; this isn't something that you just ask someone else about… I'm sure she'll be fine though. What's the worst that could happen?"

Silence.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is… that I really could've used your advice again. Even though I'm pretty certain mom would have more advice than you would." He chuckled briefly and moved to brush one hand across his cheek, not surprised to find himself crying.

It didn't take long before he felt the gentle brush of tiny fingers against his wet cheeks, drawing his attention to the daughter before him who stared at him with those curious, gold eyes. He chuckled lightly once again and moved to brush his fingers through her dark-green strands before he picked her up. "I guess I did a kind of one-sided introduction before… Emina, this is your grandfather, Greil. He was once the strongest man in all of Tellius. And despite what some people might argue… I'm still only half the man he was. You'll learn more about him when you're older, I promise; I'll see if I can't get Titania to tell you a few stories that she knows."

She continued to stare at the grave stone before she turned around and buried herself into his chest; fingers tangling in the loose material of his tunic.

He stayed there until a roll of thunder passed over and took him from his thoughts.

It would rain soon… and if he wanted to get back to the palace before Elincia realized he was gone longer than expected, then he guessed he needed to leave now.

Giving out a low sigh, he gave a brief smile. "I'll see you again one of these days, old man… just not today. Or anytime soon hopefully."

**A/N: Just a short drabble when I found myself suddenly needing to type something baby-related. The name Emina is a stand in for now, not really sure if I like it completely or not. **


End file.
